Pata Honda riders in Portuguese mix

[totalmotorcycle]

Pata #Honda riders in #Portuguese mix


Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti finished in eighth and 13th places respectively in today’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s sixth-round World Supersport race at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal.



Provisional pole position was taken by British rider and series leader Sam Lowes but both Pata Honda riders are confident of further improvement in tomorrow’s second free practice and qualifying sessions.



Today has been the first dry practice Friday since round two at Aragon and, with both Pata Honda riders being World Supersport debutants this season, the additional dry track time will prove useful for Sunday’s 20-lap race at the 4.592km Algarve circuit.



Michael van der Mark – P8, 1m47.115s



We started quite well today and I was fifth this morning. We made some changes for this afternoon but it was quite difficult to put everything together in one lap. The wind was quite strong, as well, and it made braking for the hairpin difficult to judge. I think both me and the bike can improve tomorrow to get back into the top five. If we put everything together, maybe even better, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.



Lorenzo Zanetti – P13, 1m47.481s



Well, Portimao is not my favourite track but I don’t think the position is too bad. I have not been in good condition today – I have a bit of flu, I think – but we’ll work for tomorrow and hope the weather continues to be OK. We tried every tyre today and I think we have found the right one for the race but we will hopefully test this with a race simulation tomorrow.



Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator



We clearly need to work on some sectors of the track with Michael, because he’s losing time in specific areas, but otherwise he had quite a smooth day without any major problems. There is room for improvement but I’m quite sure we’ll find some things for tomorrow because we have a lot of data here from previous years. Lorenzo’s position does not reflect his potential, I’m sure. He needs to find speed to do a lap by himself and the last run was on a tyre that he didn’t really like so I think he can also improve tomorrow.



2013 World Supersport championship, round six – Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, Portugal

First qualifying results:

1 Sam Lowes (GBR) 1m45.724s

2 Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Kawasaki 1m46.246

3 Jack Kennedy (IRL) Honda 1m46.344s

4 Davide Salom (ESP) Kawasaki 1m46.718s

5 Fabien Foret (FRA) Kawasaki 1m46.949s

6 Luca Scassa (ITA) Kawasaki 1m47.002s

8 Michael van der Mark (NED) Pata Honda 1m47.115s

13 Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA) Pata Honda 1m47.481s